The Chronicles of Faldorn, the Solo Avenger Druid! (Will contain spoilers)

[FluffigtDjur]

Hmm, interseting. How the hell do you beat dragons and stuff?

Bonus Personality Test

Question: How many times do you have to finish the game befor you start thinking about going solo

[Arwyn the Betrayer]

Okay, I forgot about the items.
*is booed*
Anyway, I want screenshots, too. :>

[Jim]

And where else am I going to put the point if I plan on using items that set stats to certain numbers? (18 dex, 19 str, etc)

Leaving out STR is fair enough if you're going to use girdles of xxx strength all the time, but there are some neat gauntlets other than those of DEX. Druids only get +1 lore per level, so you will eventually be very limited in what you can identify, having to resort to the glasses or paying for the service anyway, and you'll end up with hundreds of thousands of gold pieces since your solo so that won't be a problem. Pumping up DEX instead of INT would eventually allow for gauntlets of weapon specialisation which, since druids only have average THAC0's, would be priceless in melee combat.

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Correction: I did NOT get the Gauntlets of Dexterity yesterday. It was supposed to go on my wish list.

I took screenshots... but I can't find my password for GeoCities, so I need to get myself a new web page before I can post them. Sorry.

Well, I feel humbled. I wanted to get the Gauntlets of Dexterity, so I went to the Temple district, listened to Gaal, and went to the Temple of Helm. And then my PC FROZE!
ARGH!
I reloaded my last quicksave (stupid, stupid me.. forgot all about the autosave and now it's too late) and I didn't have the Aeger's Hide or the Girdle of Strength... and yet I only had enough gold for the girdle.. I forgot where I got the gold for the Hide.
**I got the gold from the Docks District, finding random goodies at the ST building, the axe +1 outside, and stuff from Mae'Var's place. Too late now..**
Anyway, I decide that I could go kill Mencar Pebblecrusher And Company and take their stuff, and go sell it. After all, I'm playing a NEUTRAL char this time! So I go upstairs, summon a nymph and a fire elemental, cast Chaotic Commands on myself, and have at them. I was promptly killed. I think okay, maybe I'll go get the Silver Horn! So I go to the little house, stumble through the traps, open up the chest with the Horn in it and see the dreaded grid matrix.
Please, please, let it be Maze!
Reload.
I buy a Scroll of Protection from Magic and just keep it.. I decide that when I'm ready I'll use it to get the Horn and proceed directly to the Twisted Rune with the same scroll in effect to conserve them. I go back and rememorize some spells. These are the spells I ended up using:.
Doom x3
Chromatic Orb x5
Barkskin
Charm Person or Animal x3
Summon Nature's Ally x3
Cure Medium Wounds x2
Hold Animal x2
Iron Skins
Chaotic Commands
Summon Fire Elemental
Heal

I died a few times, and a few times the thief got away. After a few reloads, I won. Here's what happened in the victorious battle:

I cast Iron Skins, then rested. Then I went upstairs, summoned my Elemental (alas, it was just a small one) and my Nymphs, who cast Barkskin on themselves. Now I moved everyone into position.. After all the charm spells were cast and saves were made, I ended up with control over Mencar himself and Smelly.
I had each nymph move in front of Mencar and they started casting Miscast Magic on Amin and Pooky, and after a few seconds I started casting Summon Insects on ... I can't even remember his name! The thief guy! I shall refer to him as Nondetection Man in honor of the cloak. Anyway, Pooky and Amin made their saving throws. Grr...
At this point the three not under my control turned hostile. Summon Insects was cast, and Nondetection Guy failed his save and started running around randomly. Amin cast Shadow Door. I have the nymphs start casting Cause Serious Wounds and targeting Nondetection Man, and the elemental went after Pookt. Smelly and Mencar each picked a target. Then a spell was cast by Amin, confusion I believe, and all hell broke loose.
My nymphs and elemental all failed their saves. They attacked Mencar and Smelly, who turned hostile. Time for me to turn spider. I attacked Nondetection Man, who died. Yay.
The fire elemental wandered around till he stood in between Pooky and Amin. Amin cast Cone of Cold, killing Pooky and damaging the elemental. Then the elemental killed him. I cast Horror and Mencar started running around, and I noticed that while my attention was diverted, the nymphs died and the elemental turned hostile. Great. I attacked Smelly till he got poisoned, then cast Vampiric Touch on him. I continued attacking him till he died.
Here I am with about thirty hitpoints left and an uninjured Fire Elemental at my heels. I revert to human form and cast Doom on it, and start running around the bed in the center of the room, staying away from him. I used all my Chromatic Orbs on him and even with Doom he didn't die. I started attacking him, but then remembered with woe that they're immune to most nonpowerful weapons... and Faldorn reminded me that her weapon wasn't working.
Five hitpoints left.
One last Vampiric Touch.
Pray that he doesn't hit me.
Pray I can cast it in time.
*THUD*
YES!
I loot the corpses and discover that I can't force the damn chests open. That is incredibly irritating. There are too many unforceable chests in Athkatla. I save and walk downstairs, with thirty or so hitpoints left....
"Me temper's bad enough without ye bothering me!"
NOOOO!
Here's Mencar! He must have run downstairs when I hit him with Horror! I have thirty hitpoints, almost no spells left, and he's UNINJURED! Quickly I shapechange into a Fire Salamander and start running around the bar, grateful the Salamanders are so fast. I cast all three of my Breathe Fireballs on him and he's still barely injured. I keep running, pausing only to drink my Potions of Extra Healing, and then shapechange to a baby wyvern. They're pretty quick, and though they only have two attacks per round that's still more than I have as a human. The Amnish Guard is just standing there, and while I reflect on how much I hate him for not helping me, he starts firing his crossbow at Mencar! Yay! He only hit him about twice, but that's still something! We're running around the bar, the guard runs out of ammo, and runs at Mencar with his lance or whatever the hell he had. I'm in very bad shape, and so is Mencar. I drink my last healing potion. I have forty-five HP left, and Mencar is Badly Injured. I attack him. He attacks me. This is it. Down and dirty.
We both hit each other a few times.
We're both almost dead.
"For the glory of Amn!"
*THUD*
He's dead. The guard killed him.
DAMMIT! I WANT THE EXP, YOU IDIOT GUARD! DAMN YOU! DIE DIE DIE!
I tell ya, if my CE sorc was there I would so bring down a meteor swarm on the bar.
At least I won.
Now, where's Patricia? She started running when the battle started, and now I can't find her. Not inside, upstairs, or outside. Whatever. I go sell my stuff and buy my armor.
Then I head over to the Mithrest, buy myself about four drinks, and sleep in the most expensive room they have. I head over to the Bridge district to maybe solve the skinner murders.
Yadda yadda yadda, I get the clues, I confront the tanner, walk downstairs, and am slaughtered.
Oh well.
Now all I need to do is use ShadowKeeper to become a NG cleric so the Temple of Lathander recruits me insted of the Helm people, get told to destroy the Cult of the Eyeless, become a druid again, and get those damn gauntlets.

Now my equipment is as follows:
Scimitar +1
Buckler (Yesterday I couldn't wait to get the Shield of Harmony... BUT I CAN'T USE ANYTHING BIGGER THAN A BUCKLER! ARGH!)
Aeger's Hide +5
Ring of Invisibility
Ring of Human Influence
Cloak of Nondetection
Scroll Case
Gem Bag
Scroll of Protection from Magic x2
Scroll of Protection from Petrification x4
Bullet +2 x2
Sling of Seeking +2

Thoughts:
I'm going to have one hell of a time beating Ihtafeer if all I have is a +1 scimitar and a +2 sling.. But I really want the djinni's scimitar before I go to fight Faldorn.
Is it immoral to become a Cleric of Lathander to bypass a bug? In theory I could use the console to create the priests of Helm in the Lathander temple, but would it not be easier to do the quest for the Lathander temple and just refuse the stronghold? Any thoughts on this, anyone?

[ 08-06-2002, 04:09 PM: Message edited by: Illumina Drathiran'ar ]

[Xenow]

Is it immoral to become a Cleric of Lathander to bypass a bug? In theory I could use the console to create the priests of Helm in the Lathander temple, but would it not be easier to do the quest for the Lathander temple and just refuse the stronghold? Any thoughts on this, anyone?

Do you have baldurdash fixpack? Also what exactly is the bug, it sounds like you want to do a cleric only quest, which yes I would consider it cheating to change your entire class with SK

Good luck Illumina on your quest. Looks like your doing pretty good so far. And I'm surprised, I have a hard time doing the Mencar Pebble Crusher fight WITH a party.

[Dundee Slaytern]

You do not need to be a Cleric to do the Cult of the Unseeing Eye quest. Why do you want to be a Cleric? What bug?

Regarding locks, if you have Draw Upon Holy Might( from your special abilities) and a STR girdle( or STR potions), use them to superboost your STR and bash open locks. This will enable you to open about 75% of most locks.

Fire Elementals are immuned to all normal weaponary, take advantage of that.

[daan]

The trap guarding the silver horn of valhalla is actually Maze IIRC.
However, when playing solo .. maze is just like Imprisonment .. once your sole character is mazed, the Computer cant see any players alive on the screen anymore and acts as if you were dead. Quite irritating flaw actually

[Cannibal Monkey]

Originally posted by Illumina Drathiran'ar: Thoughts: I'm going to have one hell of a time beating Ihtafeer if all I have is a +1 scimitar and a +2 sling.. But I really want the djinni's scimitar before I go to fight Faldorn.

Why not get Belm from the Ogre Tower - it's much better than Rashad's Talon

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Alright, I think I figured out my problem with the Temple of Helm. But we'll deal with that later. For now, I'll give you all a status report.
::heroic music, which slows and fades like a record player that got unplugged::
I've come to a conclusion. Avengers really suck. I had so much trouble dealing with four or five shades and vampiric mists in the cult compound area that I decided that I'd have to get the Amulet of Power first, and weep that I do not have Sunray or Turn Undead and can't use weapons like Daystar or the Mace of Disruption. I forget where the Helm of Brilliance is... Anyone remember?

I did the Buried Man quest, and I killed the Crypt King. It was a bit tricky until I realized I could cast Iron Skins and be safe long enough to summon a Fire Elemental, get behind said elemental and be protected while I summoned another elemental. He killed the elementals, but he was weak enough for me to finish him off with a Vampiric Touch, a few jabs from my spider form, several potions of healing (He is STRONG!) and some Chromatic Orbs.
All I need to do now in the Bloodscalp quest is kill Mae'Var, but I'm a little reserved about that... although I figure if I could kill Pebblecrusher And Company I could probably take him and his gang out... though with Pebblecrusher I had the advantage of charming their tanks before the battle even started. Whatever, I'll report back when I finish.

When entering the City Gates area (on my way to Nalia's keep and Trademeet) BG screwed up again, just like it did when I tried to enter the Temple of Helm. I think I know why.
Does the Baldurdash Fix Pack or any mod out there modify anything, repeat ANYTHING in either of these areas? I'm running the game using Dundee's chitin.key and if any of the mods he downloaded modified these areas, but I don't have one of those mods, that would cause the computer to freeze. However, if it's not that, then I think I may have to reinstall.
When I enter one of these areas, the game simply exits. It's like when I would try to enter an area I was creating but still required some polishing or had something in it that wasn't extracted to my Override folder.
I would want to become a cleric so that instead of having the Watchmaster give me the mission, the Dawnmaster would.. that would mean I would report back to the Temple of Lathander which doesn't freeze on me instead of the Temple of Helm. I've decided to not become a cleric, to not use SK, and to just reinstall the game and get a new chitin.key file.
Oh well.

I don't have Draw Upon Holy Might... I have two Vampiric Touches, Larloch's Minor Drain, Cure Light Wounds, and Horror (plus druidic abilities) as my special abilities. Locked chests vex me. The only potions that modify strength I can use are the regular Potions of Strength, which set it to 18... you need to be a fighter to use the potions of Cloud Giant or Fire Giant strength.

And the trap that guards the Silver Horn is a maze trap.. I remember seeing the little icon that means I'm mazed. Feh.